Ha - where was the winner with the odds makers? He played it to perfection.

Strong ride by Nibali, but like Spain, Italy messed up. When you isolate yourself in final like that against three riders that are faster, why press on? And maybe Nibali should have been taken out of the race for that illegal drafting. Sure Italy got a big fine but there should be bigger repercussions realistically.

Props to great efforts by Nibali, Rodriguez and Costa. But what the heck did Valverde do. Agree Spain blew it big time, seems like Valverde could have gone big when Rodriguez was caught, or rode down Costa in the final KM. Usually Valverde has good tactical sense, but it seems like he was just a bystander with the best view in the house.

In that light it could be that this is payback for support in the tour and Vuelta and future grand tour endeavors. But that leads to the question as to how effective is it to have national teams in the Worlds championships if team loyalties supersede the national team effort. An age old question I suppose

Posted By Orange Crush on 09/29/2013 12:19 PM
Did Spain mess up? Or did Valverde simply let Costa go? The two ride on the same team.

The only tactical suicide I saw was Italy's. It harks back to 2012 MSR.

Whether Valverde messed up or threw in a monkey wrench depends on the above notion.

A fair question, but Costa is going to Lampre for 2014. Given how many times Valverde has been close to the rainbow hoops, would he so willingly let the race go to a guy leaving his team? I suppose it could be "pay back" for support over the years....but I think Vlaverde screwed up.

In that case no mystery and definitely Valverde wasn't sharp enough or didn't have it. Sounds like Costa took a risk and caught him by surprise in a curve. That doesn't equate to Spain messing up though. Tactically they played it well. There was just a better guy.